Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property

Sponsored Research

UMass Lowell is motivated to attract corporate sponsors for research projects to be conducted by its faculty on campus. We especially want to cultivate long-term relationships with industrial partners that maximize benefits to both parties over time.

To facilitate this goal, UMass Lowell has recently adopted a new template for industry sponsored research agreements (SRA). This new template is based on best practices and is currently in use at similar top-tier institutions. The new template is based on the traditional model of university-driven research which presumes no joint efforts and no delivery of proprietary information, however, UMass Lowell also understands research relationships with corporate partners may be of a more collaborative nature. Alternate language is available for use in such instances. These alternative provisions include acknowledgement that jointly-owned intellectual property may arise during the course of research and provides a clear mechanism for handling such inventions.

There are several aspects of the UMass Lowell’s sponsored research template agreement designed to expedite negotiations with companies. Key features include:

Streamlined structure to promote fast track negotiations.

Specific formatting for ease of revision.

No requirement to designate specific field of research in advance.

Simply stated intellectual property terms for ease of understanding.

Automatic non-exclusive royalty-free (NERF) license for internal research purposes to all sponsors if UMass Lowell files for patent protection.

Additional non-exclusive or exclusive licenses for commercial purposes also available with commitment from sponsor to pay patent expenses.

Automatic non-exclusive royalty-free license to copyright works for internal research purposes to all sponsors, including right to make derivative works.

University concerns related to export control regulations and private business use prohibitions have been addressed proactively.